Twin River Casino adds table games, getting the jump on Mass.

Gerry Tuoti/Taunton Daily Gazette

A dealer handles the deck at a blackjack table at Twin River Casino in Lincoln, R.I.

Dave Souza

Photos

A dealer handles the deck at a blackjack table at Twin River Casino in Lincoln, R.I.

Dave Souza

As the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe awaits answers on its federal land application and Massachusetts continues reviewing prospective commercial casino developers, gamblers have been able to enjoy table games for the past few weeks over the state line.

“We always knew it would be a very important tool to have in our toolbox,” Twin River Casino spokeswoman Patti Doyle told the Taunton Gazette. “Anecdotally, the tables have been very well received.”

Located in Lincoln, R.I., Twin River Casino began offering 66 table games on June 19. Rhode Island voters last year approved Twin River’s proposal to expand from a 4,500-machine slots parlor to a full-scale casino. The action comes at a time when Massachusetts is in the midst of implementing a 2011 expanded gambling law.

“In short term, I think the table games will recapture some of the Rhode Island traffic that goes to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun,” said Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. “They’ll probably intercept Massachusetts residents who would otherwise bypass Twin River on their way to Connecticut.”

With approximately half its patrons coming from Massachusetts, Twin River has kept a close eye on developments across the state border. When Massachusetts passed legislation allowing casino gambling, both Twin River and the state of Rhode Island commissioned studies showing that the Ocean State could lose $100 million in annual revenue once Bay State casinos are opened, Doyle said.

They now hope to keep some of that revenue through the introduction of table games.

“That still may happen to some degree,” Doyle said. “What we’re hoping is that customers do explore some and get to know us.”

Barrow predicts that once Massachusetts begins licensing casinos next year, Twin River will lose a large part of its market share, even with table games.

“It gives Twin River a window of opportunity to capture some gains, but once Massachusetts facilities are up and running, I expect to see their revenues decline by as much as $150 million a year,” Barrow told the Taunton Gazette.

Two market models

While Twin River is smaller than Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun and proposed casinos in Massachusetts, it hopes to find a niche in the market.

Getting a head start on Massachusetts, Doyle said, could also help Twin River.

“It is critically important to have table games,” she said.

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and commercial casino applicants in Massachusetts are adhering to a destination resort casino model that pairs an array of non-gambling-related amenities with casino gambling. Mohegan Sun, for example, recently unveiled $1 billion plans for a commercial casino resort in Palmer that would include kayaking, zip lines, a water park and hotels.

Massachusetts law requires that casino developers each spend at least $500 million on any licensed facility.

“According to the state law, there has to be a minimum investment beyond half a billion dollars,” said state Rep. Robert Koczera, D-New Bedford, a member of the House Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. “Twin River doesn’t offer that.”

The Lincoln, R.I., casino, Koczera said, is a “convenience” facility rather than a destination resort.

“It is an opportunity for Rhode Island to capture some revenue,” he said. “I think once Massachusetts is up and running, we’re going to do what we said we wanted to do from the start, which is to keep Massachusetts money in Massachusetts.”

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell, whose proposed Taunton casino plan calls for restaurants, entertainment space, three hotels and a water park, said table games at Twin River don’t affect his tribe.

“Twin River has an old, antiquated system,” Cromwell said. “We’re going to have a top-shelf destination resort casino focused on customer service. ... Our focus, first and foremost, is on the Project First Light Casino in Taunton.”

The tribe’s “Project First Light” proposal would include an investment of more than $500 million, backed by Malaysian casino developer Genting. The Mashpee currently lack the sovereign land required for building a tribal casino, meaning the outcome of a federal land application will decide their fate.

A crowded market

Twin River, which operates in a New England gambling landscape that already includes Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, says it has found its spot in the market. It has several restaurants, bars and an event center that features live concerts and comedy, but lacks some other bells and whistles.

“We don’t have a resort. We don’t have a spa. We’re not connected to a hotel,” Doyle said. “What we do have is great location, right off the highway. We’re very convenient.”

She described Twin River as a “niche casino” that can maintain success once resort casinos open in Massachusetts.

“We compete right now with two of world’s largest casinos,” she said, referring to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

In addition to three casinos, the Massachusetts gambling law also authorizes one slots parlor statewide. Raynham Park and Plainridge Racecourse are among those hoping to secure the slots license.

A slots parlor in Massachusetts, Barrow said, would directly compete for the “convenience gamblers” who make up a bulk of Twin River’s customer base.

Is there a tipping point at which the local market can become too saturated to sustain itself? In other states, such as Iowa and Pennsylvania, more than a dozen small gambling facilities are able to survive, Barrow said.

“But if at some point you get too many facilities, it breaks the critical mass you need to maintain a destination resort,” he said. “Even in resorts, slot machines drive the bottom line.”

That said, he suggested that the Massachusetts plan is poised to be successful.